Young and talented all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy announced his arrival on the world stage with an incredible knock tonight (October 9) in the second T20I India vs Bangladesh.

The 21-year-old blasted a quickfire 74 off 34 balls, hitting at a blistering rate of 217.65.

Batting at 25/2, which soon became 41/3 in 5.3 overs, Nitish joined forces with Rinku Singh to stabilize India’s innings.

Although Nitish got off to a slow start, scoring just 13 runs off 13 balls, things changed once he took advantage of a free hit. From then on, his innings gathered momentum, leading to a blistering half-century off 27 balls, the first for India. He continued his aggressive approach even after reaching fifty.

In his last 21 balls, Nitish smashed 61 runs, hitting three boundaries and seven sixes, achieving an astonishing strike rate of 290.47. In particular, he chased the spinners, who struggled on the surface, scoring 53 runs off 19 balls at a strike rate of 278.94, including six maximums.

While Nitish has witnessed a meteoric rise in his career, we trace his steps from his under-16 days to becoming India’s latest all-round prodigy.

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Timeline of Nitish Kumar Reddy’s rise as a star

2017: Nitish scored 811 runs in Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) inter-district matches and 1237 runs in seven matches at an average of 176.71 in all India inter-state matches. He also took 27 wickets in inter-district games and 26 wickets in inter-state matches.

2018: Nitish Kumar Reddy scored 441 runs (366b, 60×4, 7×6) in the pre-U16 Vijay Merchant Trophy quarterfinals.

2018 – Nitish Kumar Reddy won the Jagmohan Dalmiya Award for the best under-16 cricketer in the 2017-18 season. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) presented him with the award at the annual awards function in Bengaluru in June 2018 along with a cash prize of 1.5 lakh. Nitish is the first ACA player to bag the BCCI award.

2020: Made his first-class debut for Andhra in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy.

2021: Nitish made his List A debut on 20 February 2021, for Andhra in the 2020-21 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

2023: Nitish Reddy was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction for INR 20 lakhs and made his IPL debut the same season.

2024 – Nitish Reddy makes his India debut in the shortest format against Bangladesh.

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